Tag: Dr. Michael Martirano

More Students Graduating from High School

West Virginia education officials say more of the state’s students are graduating from high school.

The West Virginia Department of Education says the graduation rate for the four-year cohort was 86.5 percent in the 2014-15 school year. That’s up 2 percentage points from the previous school year.

Among five-year students, the graduation rate was 84.7 percent in 2014-15, compared to 83.6 percent the year before.

West Virginia’s education rate has increased steadily over the last five years. Officials want to see it go up to 90 percent for all the state’s students by 2020.

Dr. Michael Martirano, state superintendent of schools, says the state must continue to produce more high school graduates because “one dropout is too many.”

W.Va. Superintendent Proposes Common Core Repeal

West Virginia’s top education official is proposing a repeal of the state’s Common Core based education standards in exchange for a new set he says will ensure West Virginia students are both college and career ready.

State Superintendent of Schools Dr. Michael Martirano presented the West Virginia College and Career Ready standards to the West Virginia Board of Education Friday.

The standards were written by West Virginia teachers, higher education professionals and other stakeholders after public forums were held across the state. The forums allowed anyone- from parents to politicians- to both question a panel of education experts on the standards themselves and provide specific comments for changes.

The result, according to Martirano, was the revision of 101 specific K through 12 education standards.

Martirano’s newly proposed College and Career Ready standards were placed on a 30 day public comment period. Board members will enter a final vote to repeal the current Common Core based standards and replace them with the new College and Career Ready standards in December.

Lawmakers attempted to repeal the state’s Common Core based standards during the 2015 legislative session, but the bill didn’t make it out of a Senate committee.

Legislators have since discussed a 2016 attempt at repeal during interim sessions, but Martirano said  Friday should the state school board approve the standards in December, legislative action will no longer be necessary.

W.Va. Schools Chief Emphasizes Good Attendance

Kids in Wayne County are already back in school. State Superintendent Michael Martirano joined them today to emphasize the importance of good attendance.

Martirano was at Kellogg Elementary in Westmoreland to begin a statewide initiative toward good attendance in school. Martirano took part in an assembly at the school on the second day of classes in Wayne County, which went a half day on Friday.

Students who achieved perfect attendance during last school year were recognized as well. Martirano says never has been more important to be in class every day. 

Attendance matters, students need to be in school every day, they need to take advantage of full educational activities that are occurring in our classrooms and the research proves that when students miss school they fall further behind. – Superintendent Michael Martirano

Twenty-six different counties across the state will start school this week. 

  State Superintendent Michael Martirano singing with students at Kellogg Elementary. He visited the school to talk about a new attendance initiative. A video posted by West Virginia Public News (@wvpublicnews) on Aug 10, 2015 at 11:38am PDT

State Education Officials Begin Review of Common Core Standards

After the announcement of a comprehensive review earlier this year, West Virginia parents, teachers and concerned citizens are now being asked to evaluate…

After the announcement of a comprehensive review earlier this year, West Virginia parents, teachers and concerned citizens are now being asked to evaluate the state’s education standards.

The West Virginia Department of Education launched “West Virginia Academic Spotlight” Wednesday, a five month review of the state’s Next Generation Content Standards and Objectives. The first step in that review is an online public comment period.

All 936 standards are available for the public to consider online, organized by both grade level and subject matter. The state is asking parents, teachers and any West Virginian with concerns over the standards to provide constructive comments that could result in revisions.

The comment period lasts until Sept. 30 of this year, allowing teachers time to review them even after they return to school in the fall, according to Sarah Stewart, the state Department of Education’s director of education policy and government relations.

After the comment period, West Virginia University will lead an effort to analyze the responses alongside stakeholders that could include Department of Education employees, teachers, higher education officials and representatives from the business community. The stakeholder recommendations, which could include revisions or realignments of standards, are due to the state Board of Education for their consideration by December.

“This is a substantive work that gets us moving forward for the future of our kids,” State superintendent of Schools Dr. Michael Martirano said in a press release Wednesday. “I believe this is the most important work in our state right.”

While specific dollar amounts were not available Wednesday morning, Stewart said the cost of the review will be substantially less than the $113 million the department predicted earlier this year it would take to write new standards. That prediction came in response to lawmakers’ calls for repeal.

Stewart said most of those funds are coming from grants secured by West Virginia University from the university itself, the Southern Regional Education Board, the Benedum Foundation and the National Governor’s Association—one of the organizations that helped developed the national Common Core standards. 

Martirano announced in April he would undertake the review because of an attempt to repeal Common Core during the legislative session. A bill to fully repeal the standards and aligned standardized test was approved by the House of Delegates in February, but a compromised version of the bill, which would have given education officials a year to write new standards before the current ones were removed, failed on the final night of the session.

The state Board of Education adopted the standards in 2010, incrementally implementing them in all West Virginia classrooms. The 2014-2015 school year was the first year of full implementation.  

The public can view the standards here: http://wvacademicspotlight.statestandards.org/

Putnam School Official Named State Deputy Superintendent

A Putnam County Schools official has been named state deputy superintendent of education support.

State Superintendent of Schools Michael Martirano announced Cynthia Daniel’s appointment on Tuesday. She will replace Chuck Heinlein, who will retire on June 30.

Daniel currently serves as a Putnam County Schools assistant superintendent. Her appointment to the state position is effective July 1.

W.Va. Superintendent Wants Full Review of Common Core Standards

West Virginia Superintendent of Schools Dr. Michael Martirano announced Thursday the state Department of Education will take on a full review of the state’s Next Generation Content Standards for English and math.

The announcement of the review comes less than a month after the end of the legislative session during which lawmakers  took up a bill to repeal the standards, later amending the bill to require a year long review. That legislation failed on the final night of the session.

In 2010, the West Virginia Board of Education adopted Common Core, entering into a consortium with dozens of other states across the country.

After their adoption, 100 West Virginia teachers took the national standards and modified them to become the West Virginia specific Next Generation Content Standards.

The English and math standards were fully implemented in schools across West Virginia at the start of the 2014-2015 school year for all grades.

This month, students will also take the Smarter Balance Assessment for the first time, the standardize test aligned with the standards.

“We recognize that we came through the legislative session with great discussion regarding the standards,” Martirano told members of the West Virginia Board of Education, who will also participate in the review process.

Martirano explained the review will come in two phases. First, the state Department of Education will place the standards online for full access by the public and will travel the state to conduct town hall style meetings, receiving feedback from parents, teachers and local board of education members on the standards themselves.

Second, West Virginia teachers will team with West Virginia University, Marshall University and members of the Southern Regional Education Board to take on an intensive review of the standards to ensure they are college and career ready.

This process is similar to what would have been required had the Senate amended version of the repeal passed this session.

Board President Gayle Manchin said Thursday the review process is not just about ensuring the rigor of the standards, but also to ensure parents understand the standards and the key role they play in the state’s education system.

Superintendent Martirano will report back to the state Board monthly on the progress of the review. Updates will also be provided to lawmakers during the process.

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